North Carolina · Nonprofit
THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS
THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS (North Carolina) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $102,935 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($79,935). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $80k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $103k
- Net assets
- $35k
What The Mountain School of Strings does
Mission
Located in transylvania county, we are committed to providing affordable string music lessons and classes for all who are interested.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
We began life in 2010 as transylvania youth strings to provide youth in this county with the opportunity to learn a stringed instrument. We have grown from a handful of students to over 50 students learning violin, cello, viola, double bass and even playing in an orchestra together.
$53,874 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $53,874.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $42k to $65k (+52%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
78% of THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (99% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $10k → $15k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 78% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
78% of THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $23k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $80k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,200 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,200 youth development nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS?
- THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS (North Carolina) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $102,935 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($79,935). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $102,935 in grants to THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $79,935 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF STRINGS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Mountain School of Strings →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 2 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing